Keep Our Village Green In Cottage Grove

I have many questions about the current issues the community of Cottage Grove is having concerning the fate of the Village Green. It is wonderful to see and hear the outpouring of love and pride that this community has for the Village Green. However, it makes me wonder where all this emotion was in the past. Where would we be now if there had been more awareness about the fact that the property had been put up for sale in 2009?

It seems to me that the owners should have known or at least suspected that there was a large attachment in this community to keeping the Green as a shining example of Cottage Grove’s heritage. If we are all aware of people who know of Cottage Grove because of their stays at the Green, as chatter on the Internet indicates, one would think that the owners would be aware of this too. They after all, are the ones who interact with the paying customers, at least their managers and other employees do. They must have heard story after story of how people remember staying at the Green in the past and come to Cottage Grove to do just that now.

Why weren’t the concerns that the Village Green owners were having brought to the public eye? Obviously the city and the community are concerned about this potential loss. Often business owners do not want to make a fuss about what they consider their dire straits. Yet, we see now that if this had been brought to the attention of this community there would have been an outpouring of support. This is obvious now by the new blog, http://keepourvillagegreen.blogspot.com/, and the Facebook group, ‘Keep Our Village Green in Cottage Grove,’ http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=465734655374, which arose since the greater community was made aware of these concerns and issues in the past few weeks.

We can only hope that the voice of the community was heard loud and clear by the potential buyer and that may be one reason that the ‘truck stop’ offer was withdrawn. Hopefully other potential buyers are considering the historical value of this community icon, which is in very good condition considering its age and repairs that still need to be made.

I have heard talk of fundraisers, volunteer activity, loans backed by grants and even a casino and other options for the building and the land. It is hard to say what would make the difference and allow this community to retain its charm and vitality, but we do see that when drawn into the fold, this community will work very hard at making sure there are viable options on the table. What I have learned from this is to be open to the possibilities out there that may exist even when you are not aware of them and to ask for help and support when you need it. The outcome may surprise you.

I have worked a lot in my life with the ideas of positive thinking and manifestation. One important thing I always remember is that it is important to focus on the essence of what it is that you desire and not as much on the form. Being that our limited minds cannot always conceive of the full range of possibilities that are out there. I think this community is doing a great job of that. The qualities of the Village Green that I hear being evoked are small-town charm with a world class destination and holding on to the values and essence of the past. It may feel that this decision is out of our hands as we are not the ones who will make the final choice, but I think we are seeing the value of putting your thoughts, ideas, hopes and dreams out there. You never know how you may influence someone. 

Village Green Conference Center/Moonstone Cloistered Gardens Urban Renewal Project Proposal

Précis

Village Green Conference Center/Moonstone Cloistered Gardens

Cottage Grove Urban Renewal Ballot Initiative
(Proposed as a 2010 Cottage Grove Ballot Measure)

Contributed by Jim Kness, The Blind Seer of Cottage Grove

Anyone May Copy And Distribute This

I. Our city should be the site of an exemplary regional conference center; The Village Green/Moonstone Gardens should be redesigned and upgraded in such a way as to accomplish this purpose.

II. The Village Green/Moonstone Gardens has a civic ambiance and architectural style that needs to be preserved and restored instead of being torn down. An architectural design charrette should be hosted by the Cottage Grove Area Chamber of Commerce as soon as possible to enable this urban renewal iniative. Time is of the essence; economic development and cultural improvement should be proactively enabled by the CG Area Chamber of Commerce, CG Economic Development Director, CG City Council Manager, and CG City Planner.

III. I believe that in order to obtain sufficient funding for a Village Green Urban Renewal District there should be a tourist destination tribal casino facility built on the Gateway Boulevard side of I-5. The Tribal Casino and Conference Center needs to be connected by a pedestrian bridge (with electric shuttle auxiliary conveyance)over I-5 that could serve as an architecturally significant landmark for Cottage Grove. A major truck stop facility (for selling locally produced bio-fuel products) could also be located on the Gateway boulevard side of I-5. The Tribal Casino/Conference Center needs to be designed in a synergistic relationship with the major truck stop facility and fast-food purveyors of Gateway Boulevard.

IV. I believe that the District boundaries for this major Cottage Grove Urban Renewal Ballot Initative should be drawn as shown on the maps that accompany this précis.

V. I believe that an architectural design charrette for a Grand Ronde Tribal Casino should be undertaken concurrently with the Village Green design charrette as previously mentioned. The present fast food purveyors fronting on Gateway Boulevard are part of a civic ambiance that could be esthetically augmented in conjunction with a tribal casino/truck stop architectural design concept. The City of Cottage Grove could acquire property within this urban renewal district by right of eminent domain if need be, or with a "Buy and Lease-Back" agreement with existing property owners. This kind of 50 year lease hold would remain in force even if the property title deeds were to be ceded to the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon for the purpose of building a tribal casino within the city limits of Cottage Grove

VI. The Cottage Grove Area Chamber of Commerce needs to host a joint architectural design charrette for the Village Green Conference Center/Grand Ronde tribal casino with financing in mind for accomplishing maximum civic benefit. The financing of the VGCC/ GRTC economic development concept could be accomplished with a combination of Urban Renewal revenue sharing bonds, serial levy bonds, and tribal casino debenture coupons.

VII. Here are some architectural design criteria that I believe should be written into both of the conference center/ tribal casino design charettes:

A. A cloistered wall needs to be built along the edge of the I-5 right-of-way for the purpose of suppressing "freeway noise". The cloister wall should be specified as an element of landscape architectural design consistent with the philosophy of Moonstone Gardens and the needs of Cottage Grove and its citizens.

B. The present Wal-Mart site next to the Village Green should be acquired by right of eminent domain and should be included as part of the Moonstone Gardens/Village Green Conference Center architectural master plan. Wal-Mart as a corporate entity could be compensated for CG condemnation with an amicable relocation to Creswell.

C. A four or five-story parking structure to serve the patrons of a tribal casino facility could be built on the site of the present Vintage Inn, KFC, McDonald's, gas station, etc. All of these present fast-food purveyors would retain their present business locations at sidewalk level under the roof of the tribal casino parking structure. The actual tribal casino facility could be of the penthouse (e.g. on rooftop of parking structure) pavilion style, resembling the architectural style of the Village Green.

D. A quasi-arcology structure consisting of several geodesic Rotegrity Domes could provide bridge access over the I-5 right-of-way between the Grand Ronde Tribal Casino Facilities and the Village Green Conference Center. The Rotegrity Dome frameworks could also be used as a "world renowned aeroponic garden floral exhibit."

Charrette: –noun- a final, intensive effort to finish a project, esp. an architectural design project, before a deadline.
                           Origin: 1965–70; < F: cart, OF, equiv. to char chariot, wagon (see car¹) +-ette -ette, from the idea of speed of wheels

Precis:–noun- a concise summary.
                         Origin: 
1750–60; < F, n. use of adj., lit., cut short. See precise


                   —Synonyms 
1. digest, condensation, abstract.


definitions from dictionary.com

Contributed by Jim Kness, The Blind Seer of Cottage Grove

Anyone May Copy And Distribute This

Supporting Local Businesses

We all know that healthier businesses lead to healthier communities. On January 6th,  2010, twenty-six local businesses received a boost to their company’s immune system right here in Cottage Grove! They are attending a nine month, Strategies of Success (S.O.S.) class hosted by the Chamber of Commerce through the Lane Community College Business Development Center (LBDC).

This great partnership has brought much needed resources to the Cottage Grove business community. The current class is full but there is another in the works for this fall. Chris Nystrom, the LBDC instructor who is teaching the class, stressed that she is there to be a guide, helping to direct the business owner to finding the information and resources that they need, but most importantly to be a coach encouraging them towards greater success.

In addition to the once-per-month class each attendee gets a monthly private consultation here in Cottage Grove with Nystrom, where she supplements the topics covered in class with even greater detail, tailored to the needs of each business.

The class brainstormed opportunities, challenges and trends that they see as business owners here in Cottage Grove. Each participant then got to define for themselves who their target market is and then did an exercise sharing this as an elevator pitch to another classmate. The night was filled with positive energy and with great hopes of future growth for each business this year.

Local businesses can look forward to more opportunities like this class in the future. The Cottage Grove Area Chamber of Commerce is committed to supporting local businesses and is always looking at new ways of serving each business better.

To find out more about the services that the LBDC provides contact them at http://www.lanebdc.com/ or (541) 463-5255 or come down to the Visitor’s Center at 700 E. Gibbs to pick up a copy of their spring 2010 schedule.

For more information or to get on a waiting list for the next class this fall please contact Kristin at the Cottage Grove Chamber at (541) 942-2411.

This is a reprint, courtesy of the Cottage Grove Area Chamber, of an article,

which I wrote for their monthly Chamber Newsletter that gets printed in the Cottage Grove Sentinel. ~ Rose R. Miller

New Economic Development Website

Have you had a chance to check out the new website for the Economic Business Improvement District of Cottage Grove? It is actually a partnership between the city http://www.cottagegrove.org/ the chamber http://cgchamber.com/ and the Economic Development Committee.

Check out the site at http://www.growingthegrove.com/

You'll find some great success stories as well as information for anyone desiring to start a business here in Cottage Grove. Let me know what you think of the site!